Billiard-game device



Sept. 8, 1925.

J. CONWAY BILLIARD GAME DEVICE Filed Maron s. 1923 Patented Sept. 8, 1925 UNITED STATES JOHN CONWAY, 0F VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

BILLIARD-GAME DEVICE.

Application filed March 3, 1923. Serial No. 622,543.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN CONWAY, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and a resident of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Billiard-Game Devices, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to devices for playing ball and cue games, on the same lines as billiards, bagatelle, pyramids, pool and the like.

Its aim is to provide means for a game of this type which shall provide efiicient scope for skill and practice in combination with quite inexpensive apparatus, as my device may be constructed in the form of a simple board or built into a table of substantial and more costly form according to circumstances.

W ith bagatelle and similar modications of the billiard game there can of course be little interest, because it is obvious that the apparatus employed does not lend itself to that precision of effort which is essential to a game of skill that can retain the interest of the players, whereas with my device the objections are entirely removed and that without the costly outlay of a standard billiard table.

I am able to attain these objectives by the use of a comparatively small portable board, with wood fences uncushioned, the game to be played with cues of the usual type and rubber balls, pockets are provided within the area of the table itself, and some of these are specially guarded by an approximately semi-circular wood fence, there are other fences also more particularly described hereinafter. The game is played somewhat in the usual manner from a balk line but it is impossible to make a score except by cushioning from one or more of the fences to effect which a reasonable amount of skill is essential.

In the drawings Fig. l is a plan View and Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional view; 3, is the playing surface of the board which is covered with suitable green cloth the end table pockets are shown at 4, and the fenced pockets at 5, the construction shown is that of a cheap portable board which is conveniently made of jointed cedar and bounded by a wood fence 6, the board is stiffened by cleats at 7 which also act as convenient supports for the whole.

The curved fences and the positions in which the same are located constitute an important feature of my device, the main fences are marked 8, the pocket fences 9, and the top centre fence 10.

The method of playing the game is to use eight solid rubber balls which are played consecutively from within the area limited by the balk line 1l, the object being to pocket all the balls with the least number of strokes.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In a table board for billiard games, a series Of pockets in t-he playing surface near and parallel to one end, a curved conical projection having its base on the inner side of the end wall of said board and its apex towards the said series of pockets dividing the said series into two equal portions, said projection being flat and having one flat surface in contact with said playing surface, two additional pockets on a line parallel to said series and symmetrically spaced in reference to the centre line of the said board, each said additional pocket being partially enclosed by a curved wall projecting slightly above said table board.

2. In a table board for billiard games having a series of pockets in the playing surface near and parallel to one end, two curved walls springing from and located to adjoin the longer sides of said playing surface and with their convexities opposing each other, each of the said curved walls thus enclosing a segmental area bounded by a portion of the longer side of the said playing surface which forms the chord of the segment, said curved walls being about mid-way of the length of the said board and thus restricting the transverse dimension of the said playing surface at that part, said walls rising from said playing surface to a height approximately similar to that of the sides of the said board.

JOI-IN CONWAY. 

